MRM to appeal Muslims in Varanasi to vote for Modi

Updated: Tuesday, May 6, 2014, 16:41 [IST]

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Vadodara, May 6: At least 75 members of Gujarat unit of Muslim Rashtriyaa Manch (MRM) have left the state to reach Varanasi tomorrow to appeal the minority community to vote for BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Modi is contesting from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency where polling is scheduled on May 12. "Our plan is to reach out to 3.48 lakh Muslim voters in this constituency requesting them to vote for Modi to help BJP assume power at the Centre," MRM's Gujarat unit chief convener Abdulgani Abdulabhai Quereshi told PTI before leaving for Varanasi yesterday.

The minority community people from Godhra, Vadodara, Dohad, Navsari, Valsad, Ahmedabad and other places are members of MRM's state unit and are on their way to actively campaign for Modi, he said.

"MRM members from Gujarat would exhort Muslims not to fall prey to vote bank politics and vote for Modi by bringing to their notice how the members of minority community in the state are benefited from Modi's Gujarat model of development ever since he became the chief minister in 2001," said Quereshi, the former chairman of Gujarat State minority board.

On allegations levelled against Modi in connection with the 2002 post Godhra Gujarat riots, he said, "Had Modi been involved in the riots, the Gujarat police would not have fired 1,200 rounds and killed over 200 rioters. Every court has acquitted him. And there is not a single incident of communal violence in Gujarat in the past 13 years."

"MRM has launched a nationwide mission to make Modi the next Prime Minister. As part of it our workers have been trying to reach out to all members of Muslims community through Jan Jagran programmes, door-to-door campaigns and big rallies," he said.

"The Muslims of the country are thinking about the treatment meted out to them post Independence. This community lacks leadership and the MRM will help it achieve progress," Quereshi said.